Denial
by strawberryz
Summary: I will not! I don't care if he has a god-like body and- oh crap. Anyway the point is I will not marry him! You can't make me, Tsunade! Ok maybe you can... but still! I will not be Sakura Uchiha! NO! What horrible crime have I done to deserve this?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Ok this is my first ****fanfic**** Naruto style so I may have got a few things wrong e.g. names, places and things like that but please give it a go and tell me what you think! (Just don't be too cruel!)**

_**An unexpected welcome**_

Naruto sat at the bar quietly sipping on his vodka. It had been about six years since that moron had left yet still...

He groaned and rested his head in his hands. How could he have just left like that? How could he have done that to them? To Sakura...

He balled his fists in fury and anguish. After that git had left they had wasted so many bloody years searching, hoping, praying for him, but no, all that bloody git did was evade them and stomp on Sakura's battered heart just a little more than he had already done.

For years now, mentioning 'him' around Sakura had been a taboo. No one dared do it lest they had either the desire to be given the cold shoulder for a couple of days or alternatively, a death wish. It didn't matter much though anyway, if he was talking to Neji or someone about it, he was usually referred to as 'that bastard' or something like that.

_"I just wish that goddamned bastard would come back, it'__s not the same without him.__"_

Neji was bloody well right, he wanted the moron to come back. They all did. He was like a brother to him... and he also wanted to wring the assholes neck.

Any romantic feelings towards her had long since passedand his feelings towards her were more brotherly however there was no denying that she had grown up... a lot. She was no longer the flat-chested, shapeless, lovesick young girl that she had always been in her younger years. She was now nothing short of well, beautiful. She had grown into her face and she now had long legs and-

Naruto turned slightly pink. He might not like her like that anymore but he was still allowed to look, right? After all, he saw her every day anyway, he bloody well lived with her. He grinned at this. Living with Hinata, Neji, and Sakura in that damned big house of Sakura's that she had inherited sure was one heck of a rollercoaster. Still he loved it, and it was nice having a bit of freedom... occasionally. And the place was so bloody damned huge! She had been legally allowed to live in it since she came of age, and somehow through some crazy circumstances they had all wound up living together in it. He was too drunk to try and remember how exactly it had happened, but he swore he could vaguely remember something to do with sheep...

His mind trailing back to Sakura, he felt a mixture of pride and unhappiness. She had trained hard and had now become anything but weak, she still had that wonderful trait of making anyone laugh, she could make just about any male she wanted fall in love with her and yet... there was something missing. And he had a pretty good guess as to what that was. That damned moron, Sasuke!

In one quick motion he drained the remains of the vodka before setting down the glass. He looked at his watch which read twelve O'clock. Sakura and Hinata were going to kill him. It was late for one thing, but he was also pretty darn wasted. He doubted he would get much sympathy. Knowing Neji he would probably snigger in a corner as he watched his friend die a very horrible death... So much for freedom.

Pushing some money onto the counter, he heaved himself of the chair and began to walk unsteadily towards the door.

Once out on the street, he tried in vain to remember what direction his house was. He shook his head experimentally, trying to rid it of drowsiness. He definitely did not want to fall asleep in the middle of the street. Not good.

He swayed on the spot, rubbing his head.

"Dobe, exactly what and how much did you drink?"

He knew that voice. He also knew only one person ever called him Dobe. Then he scolded himself. He was drunk. He was having hallucinations.

"So that's it? You're just going to ignore me? Frankly Dobe, I'd rather that you punched me," said the hallucination. "I probably deserve it anyway."

"Go away, you're not real!"

"Man, you are wasted. And by the way I am real, turn around."

Naruto turned slowly around. Before he could focus on the figure in front of him, a blast of icy cold water sprayed into his face.

"What the hell was that for?" he yelped, now completely drenched.

"To wake you up," stated the figure simply. Naruto stared at the person in front of him, in shock. He had to be hallucinating, because there was no way in hell...

"Teme?" he stated dumbly.

"No, it's The Tooth Fairy! Who the hell do you think it is?"

He couldn't make him out properly in the poor light, but there was no mistaking that voice. But he couldn't have come back. Not after all these years...

Naruto engulfed him in a bear hug, which seemed to surprise Sasuke as he took a few steps back. Letting go of him, Naruto burst out laughing, and said "You moron! You git! I can't believe you!"

"Dobe, what the hell!?"

"I'm going to strangle-"

"Dobe, you're drunk," stated Sasuke firmly "We need to get you home."

He gripped the now hysterical Naruto by the upper arm, and began to half drag him away from the scene. The alcohol was now starting to have a different affect.

"Ish over dere," Naruto slurred, pointing up into the sky.

"Naruto I know where you're house is, I was just going over there now to see if you were still awake."

He continued to drag the giggling Naruto down the street.

"Shakura!"

"What?"

"Shakura!" Naruto slurred.

He felt Sasuke freeze and his hand tightened around his arm.

"Sakura! What- I mean, how's things with her?" luckily for him Naruto was too drunk to notice Sasuke's change of tact.

Naruto did not answer his question but just giggled happily. Sighing heavily, Sasuke continued dragging him in the direction of what he had been told was Naruto's house.

"You so owe me for this," muttered Sasuke as he shot a sideways glance at him.

A few minutes later they arrived outside a grand old house with big gates.

"This it?" he asked the drunken Naruto who managed a "yesh"

Pushing open the gates, he began to walk up the drive, taking a closer look at the house. It looked pretty big, at least enough room for eight people to live in it comfortably.

When they reached the front door, they let themselves in quietly, and Sasuke was in the process of asking the drunken Naruto if he could just sleep on a sofa or something when they heard an angry cough.

Both boys froze on the spot. They turned around slowly on the spot to see two young women standing there, both with their hands on hips and from what Sasuke could guess as it was dark, identical looks of fury. It was like something from a horror movie. Sasuke, now an S-class ninja was not usually intimidated by anything but under the look these two women were giving him, he felt **terrified.**

"Naruto Uzumaki, where exactly have you been?" Naruto squeaked. Sasuke knew that voice, and to be honest he felt like squeaking too. He also knew that it was lucky it was dark and no one could see him properly otherwise he would probably be dead by now.

"Neji, turn on the light, **now**!" That was Hinata. So she didn't stutter anymore... there was a snigger, a sharp smack and then a yelp. Sasuke could feel his doom approaching with every footstep. He tried to retreat into the shadows and blend in with the wall, but to no avail. He heard the light click on.

"Naruto, would you care to explain-" she froze. Sasuke stared at her. All he could do was stare. There was only one word to describe her now and that was 'beautiful'. She had obviously done a lot of growing up. She had grown into her large forehead, her beautiful pink hair was now halfway down to her waist and she was definitely NOT flat chested now. Her body looked well, perfect. And he was definitely not complaining about the fact that she was wearing rather small pyjama shorts and quite a tight top. Completely awestruck, he continued to gawk at her like a moron. This was not the Sakura he knew. No, this Sakura was nothing short of sexy...

Sakura's POV

She stared in shock. That couldn't be him... No, she had sworn to herself that she would forget him, move on and never let him cross her mind again. The man standing in front of them was very tall. He seemed taller than Naruto, who was at least six foot. There was no doubting either the rock hard muscles that probably lay beneath his shirt. His hair was messier and a bit longer and his face was just about god-like. She closed her eyes trying to rid herself of these thoughts. She had made a promise to herself which she was not about to break.

She moved towards him slowly, as though in a trance. Could this be real...

Sasuke's pov

He could not tear his eyes away from her. He felt slightly light headed as she moved towards him. She stopped about a meter from him still with that strange unreadable look on her face. As they locked eyes, Sasuke felt a jolt in his stomach. He gave a weak, hopeful smile and half raised his arms.

_He smiled..._

Suddenly she flew at him. For a split second he thought she would give him one of her infamous hugs but what he got was very different. Knocking him to the ground she began to pummel every part of him she could reach.

He gave a yell of surprise and shielded his head in his arms.

"Argh-! What the-! Sakura-! OW!"

"How dare you! How dare you come back after knocking me out and leaving me on that bench! You broke my heart you little- you-" She screamed, seemingly searching around for a word that was bad enough to describe him.

"Sakura- chan, calm d-" said Neji weakly.

"No, I will not calm down! And don't you 'Sakura-chan' me!" She snapped viscously at Neji, before going back to yelling at Sasuke. "We wasted two years of our life searching for you, you undeserving prat! And you think it's ok to just waltz back into our lives whenever you feel like it?! Or have you just come back to tell us you're going off for another six years to kill someone else!? You prat! You asshole! You- "

What else he was he never found out because at that moment a pair of arms lifted the struggling Sakura off of Sasuke and pulled her away. Hinata rushed over to Sasuke and helped him up. Looking up he saw Neji restraining a struggling Sakura with his arms around her waist.

"Let go of me!" she yelled furiously, desperately trying to prise Neji's arms off of her.

_I deserved that_

Sasuke just stood there dumbly, in blank shock, feeling utterly numb.

Finally managing to break free of Neji, she shot Sasuke a furious look before storming up off the large staircase.

Hinata turned around to face Sasuke. She sighed,

"this is for leaving us," She promptly slapped him around the face, before smiling at him and hurrying off up the stairs after Sakura.

There was an awkward silence as the three men were left alone together.

"Girls," muttered Sasuke, rubbing his face where Hinata had slapped him.

Neji smirked at him "You know when I first saw you I was thinking about punching you, but I think you've had enough for one night, eh?"

"You think?" muttered Sasuke sarcastically, shooting him his infamous glare. Neji grinned and strode over to him, clapping him on the back.

"It's nice to have you back, mate," he said. Sasuke massaged his aching chest where Sakura had hit him, groaning. His head was spinning. She had changed so much. What had happened to the lovesick, plain Sakura, who adored him?

_You left her, idiot_

Sasuke clenched his fists, feeling like punching something.

"I heard about Itachi," said Neji quietly.

This did not help with his feeling of frustration. The last thing he needed was that evil bastard on his mind.

"I hope he likes his grave," spat Sasuke furiously.

"Is that why you came back?" he asked tentatively "because you killed him?"

"I... I don't really know," The question had shocked Sasuke. He had never really thought about it before. His feet had just seemed to carry him back here.

Back home...

They both jumped as a sudden snore came from the corner of the room. Turning around, they saw Naruto sprawled on the ground, fast asleep and drooling. Sighing dramatically, Neji walked over to him muttering cheerfully,

"I love it when he gets in trouble."

He then proceeded to drag him over to the staircase by the ankles. However he paused at the bottom looking up at Sasuke, who was still standing there, a slight smirk playing on his lips as he watched them.

"Listen, Sasuke, you don't mind sleeping on a sofa, do you? It's just that Sakura would probably kill me if I let you have one of the spare beds."

"Am I staying?" asked Sasuke, raising an eyebrow.

"Well you're definitely not leaving," said Neji, who was now half way up the stairs, still dragging Naruto. "The living room's the door to you're right." He finished, gesturing lazily in that direction.

Sighing, Sasuke strode over to the door and pulled the door open. Without bothering to look around, he headed in the direction of the nearest sofa and plonked himself down upon it.

He quickly discarded his shirt, throwing it in a random direction, and lay back. It was then he realised just how tired he was. Closing his eyes, he succumbed to sleep.

Sakura lay awake, sitting up in her four poster bed, turning over the events of that evening in her mind. How dare he come back! After all he did to her! She had promised herself she would forget about him, she would not love him anymore, but how was she supposed to do that if the bastard was back in Konoha.

_I hate him!_

_**Do you?**_

_Yes!_

_**Are you sure?**_

_Look, I don't care if he has a god-like body or is ridiculously handsome, I still- Wait, did I just say that?_

Sakura's mental argument was interrupted by a sudden tentative knock on her door. It opened and a black haired girl slipped in and came to sit on her bed.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked carefully, looking at her like she was a bomb that could explode at any moment.

"You have no idea how much I hate that boy," muttered Sakura throwing herself back onto her pillows.

"Sakura, you might want to give him another chance, you know. I think he's changed."

"Once an arrogant bastard, always an arrogant bastard."

Hinata, sighed, feeling defeated. Sakura had always been stubborn.

"So you're saying that you don't love him anymore?"

"No," she said firmly.

_**Liar!**_

_I am not a liar!_

Knowing a lost cause when she saw one, Hinata shrugged and stood up.

"Night, Sakura," she said, walking out of the room.

Feeling utterly furious, Sakura let out a frustrated grunt and pulled the pillow over her head.

She wanted to punch something, preferably Sasuke's perfect face.

**AN: Hey! Ok this is my first story so please be nice. Please review! Constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

_"Sakura..."_

_His hand caressed the side of her face gently. The minimal gap between them was now closing in. He was getting closer, closer..._

_"I love you," he whispered, brushing a loose lock of hair away from her face. They were inches apart now. Suddenly she felt her lips moving__ of their own accord._

_"I love you too, Sasuke." Their lips met._

Sakura's eyes snapped open in horror. She sat up suddenly and stared wildly around. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that she was safe in her bed and not really kissing the two faced moron. All of a sudden she remembered the events of the previous evening. Groaning, she slumped back into her pillows. She prayed that he just wasn't still here.

Feeling around for her clock on the bedside table, she grabbed it and checked the time. With a moan she realised that it was only six am. Realising that she would never get back to sleep now, she pulled herself out of bed and began to make her way downstairs.

However, coming down the stairs, she realised she wasn't that hungry so she just decided to head straight into the living room.

Upon reaching the door, she pulled it open and was just about to walk through it when she crashed into what felt like a wall. As she toppled to the ground she felt a strong arm wrap around her small waist, steadying her.

Her eyes refocusing, she found herself staring at the best eight pack she had ever seen. No wonder the person had felt like a wall, his chest looked just about rock hard.

"Like what you see?"

_Oh great... just what I need at six in the morning._

She looked up slowly at the owner of the eight pack, fighting off the urge to strangle him, a glare forming on her pretty face. Sasuke smirked back down at her, having seen where her eyes had been just a second before.

It was then that she realised that the obnoxious twit still had arm wrapped around her waist, holding her up. She made a little disgusted noise and, pulling herself into a standing position, she firmly removed Sasuke's arm shooting him the dirtiest look she could muster.

"Why are you still here? Don't you have someone else to knock out and leave on a cold stone bench?" she snapped icily, trying to push past him into the living room. Immovable, he stood there, no longer smirking.

"Move," she hissed, trying to push him out of the way.

"No," he said simply.

She stamped her foot crossly and crossed her arms. He chuckled at this. The same old Sakura.

"Are you doing this because you have something to say to me or are you just trying to piss me off?" she snapped at him.

"The first one," he stated, looking her directly in the eye "Sakura, I wanted to explain to you why I lef-"

"Explain?! Explain?! I know why you left!" She said, her voice uncharacteristically high pitched "You left because Naruto and I weren't good enough for you! None of us were! Not for you and your little revenge schemes!"

"No!" defended Sasuke "It wasn't like tha-"

The rest of Sasuke's sentence was drowned out by a mirthless laugh from Sakura.

"But of course we never mattered to you, did we?" she continued "You just used us to get what you wanted and when we weren't good enough for that you just-"

"Sakura!" he said, grabbing her wrists and pulling her towards him. His cold eyes seemed to soften as he looked down at her. "You mattered to me a lot," he said quietly. She stared up at him blankly.

They stood there in silence, waiting for the other to betray any signs of emotion, but they were both far too good at this game to lose. It was just then that Sakura noticed just how close they were. They were nothing more than a few inches apart. They were so close that Sakura could feel Sasuke's hot breath tickling her face...

"Guys?"

Their heads snapped around to see Neji halfway down the stairs, frozen in mid-step, a look of complete shock on his face.

Sakura knew it must have looked suggestive. After all, Sasuke was shirtless, he was holding onto her wrists and they were very, very, very close. A slight blush crept up her cheeks.

She tried to pull her wrists out of Sasuke's firm grasp, but he didn't seem to want to let go. Neji still stood there, at a complete loss for words, gawking at the two of them.

"Let go!" she hissed furiously. Sasuke jumped and looked down in surprise. He had evidently forgotten that he was holding onto her wrists. He dropped them instantly but did not step back. Sakura looked back up at Neji and to her annoyance saw that he had a slight smirk playing on his lips.

"My my, Sasuke, don't you have any self control?" he said, his smirk widening "What_**have**_ you two been doing?"

"Nothing!" they both yelled simultaneously at him.

"In the hallway as well? Naughty, naughty," he tutted. "Sasuke you scoundrel!"

"Neji, you better start running now, because when I find you, and after I'm done beating the crap out of you, there won't be anything left to bury," said Sasuke furiously, a manic glint of red in his eyes.

Neji turned on his heal and sprinted up the stairs, howling with laughter. This was evidently too much for Sasuke's pride to handle, because a second later a dozen fireballs zoomed after Neji, singing little holes in the various things they hit, such as the carpet and of course, Neji's clothes.

Scowling at the retreating form of Neji, Sasuke heard an angry cough. He looked down at Sakura and saw her glaring at him and pointing and the holes in her carpet.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and said sheepishly "I'll um... I'll get that fixed..."

She turned on her heel and stalked away from him to a different door. Sighing, he turned around and went back into the living room to retrieve his shirt. He didn't want Neji saying anything else. Eventually finding it, he went back into the hall way and headed over to the door that Sakura had gone through. Pulling it open, the smell of frying tomatoes wafted over to him. He looked over to the source of the smell and saw Sakura standing at the stove, chopping up tomatoes and throwing them irritably into a frying pan.

Suppressing a grin, he sauntered over to her and lent on the bench

"What?" she snapped, viciously attacking the tomatoes.

"Nothing," he said, casually taking a piece of tomato and popping it into his mouth.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" she said, slapping his hand away as he reached to take another tomato.

"Nope"

She glared at him. He hadn't changed one bit. Except for the fact that he talked a bit more. Still, that wasn't necessarily a good thing...

"You know you're going to have to turn yourself into Tsunade, don't you?"

"Hn"

"Are you going to do it?"

"Hn"

"When?"

"Today"

She fell silent and continued to chop up the tomatoes, all the while Sasuke watching her. It seemed to him that he had never fully appreciated how beautiful she was. It almost mesmerised him the way that the light reflected off her hair, the way her eyes-

_No stop this! Bad Sasuke! This is Sakura we're thinking about! _

_**So...? **_

_Let me e__xplain: firstly, she hates me now-_

_**Whose fault is that?**_

_-Secondly, it's not my fault she's hot, I-_

_**So you admit it?**_

_Yes- no- oh shit._

_**So you do like her**_

_Hey! I never said that!_

_**You know**__** for a genius you sure are dumb**_

_Piss off_

"Sasuke? Are you listening to me?"

Sasuke jumped, awakening from his mental argument, and looked down to see Sakura with her hands on her hips, looking, for about the third time that day, extremely annoyed with him.

_**She's sexy when she's mad.**_

_Argh!__ Shut up!_

"Sasuke, were you actually listening to a word I was saying?" she asked.

"Oh, I um... yeah, it was something about... err..." he trailed off, looking sheepish.

She gave an irritable sigh and turned away muttering something that sounded like 'boys'.

At that moment Neji chose to come strutting in, his smirk still intact, yet with little singed holes in his pyjamas.

"It's nice to see you fully clothed again, Sasuke."

If looks could kill then Neji would probably have evaporated on the spot under the furious glare that Sasuke shot at him. Giving him a smug look, he leant lazily on the counter on the other side of Sakura.

"Is breakfast ready yet?"

"Well, it would be ready much sooner if people actually HELPED!" Sakura snapped furiously "And if SOMEONE would stop eating the tomatoes!" Sasuke froze, a piece of tomato halfway to his mouth.

"Yeah Sasuke," taunted Neji, his smirk widening.

Sakura smacked him over the head and said "Neji, do you think you could stop being an asshole for a few minutes and go and get me some bacon!?"

It was Sasuke's turn to smirk. However when Sakura saw this it only seemed to enrage her even more.

"And you!" she snapped, poking him hard in the chest "You- you just do something useful!"

"Like what?" he asked incredulously, rubbing his chest where she had poked him.

"I don't know! Just do something! Wait- get me five eggs from the cupboard!"

Sighing, Sasuke did as he was told. This was going to be a long morning...

Half an hour, several shouting matches and many thrown objects (courteousy of Sakura) later, five figures sat around the kitchen table, each with a plate of food in front of them.

Two of the figures appeared to be cringing, one looked murderous, another looked thoroughly exasperated and the last just looked downright confused.

"So... guys...?"

Everyone turned around to stare at Naruto. As Naruto had been drunk the night before, he had naturally not remembered anything, so poor Sasuke had to go through Naruto's greeting ceremony again, which involved a lot of shouting, a couple of attempted punches and a giant bear hug. Now it seemed that Naruto was letting everything sink in, and it was proving a difficult task for him.

He looked between Sasuke, Neji, who seemed to be very apprehensive, and Sakura, who was shooting them both death glares. His eyes then wandered over to Hinata, who looked thoroughly exasperated.

_She looks really pretty today._

_**She always looks pretty**_

_Yeah... wait__ did I just say that!?_

Hinata and Naruto had walked into the kitchen earlier to find a literal battle scene in front of them. Sakura had been in the process of throwing a deadly looking kitchen knife at Neji, who had been forced to dive behind the kitchen counter in order to keep his manhood intact and Sasuke had been desperately trying to restrain Sakura, whilst trying to hide anything sharp in Sakura's reach. Amazingly the breakfast had managed to come out unscathed.

"Nothing..." muttered Naruto, concentrating on his food once again. They all continued to stare at him for a while longer before shaking their heads and returning to their food. They all sat there in what seemed to be an unbreakable silence, Hinata and Naruto occasionally exchanging glances.

Suddenly there was a loud rap on the door. They all looked in the direction of the hallway, looking surprised. It was only about eight and it seemed a little early for visitors. Sakura slowly slid of her chair and went to answer it.

Once in the hallway, Sakura headed over to the large front door. She turned the lock and pulled the door open to reveal two young, fairly muscular male ninjas.

"Sakura-chan," began one of them, shooting her a flirty grin.

"Kenji!" exclaimed Sakura, giggling at his cheesy grin.

There were quite a few things that Sasuke disliked. He usually added to that list every day, with things such as Naruto's newest favourite flavour of ramen, or a new fan girl but today, it was this boy 'Kenji'. He also did not like that little giggle Sakura had given when he had called her 'Sakura-chan'. He was NOT allowed to flirt with Sakura.

The piece of toast in his hand now resembled a fine powder and the crumbs were falling gently from his clenched fist. If he wasn't so wrapped up in his own anger, he would have seen the others looking at him with alarmed expressions and he would have heard Neji cough "Jealous" although, perhaps that was a good thing.

Dumping the powdered toast on his plate, he stormed out of the kitchen, with a look of pure blood-lust in his eyes. He was going to rip that 'Kenji' limb from limb.

Exchanging worried glances, the others hurried out of the room after him, somewhat fearing for the life of Kenji. They knew that when an Uchiha was angry, the results were never generally very pretty. And this Uchiha wasn't just angry, he was jealous. Very, _**very**_ jealous. This was a sight that none of them had ever seen before and never thought that they would see. They half expected pigs to start flying around at any moment, it was so surreal. But no, this was real, horribly real...

Sakura, still talking to Kenji, felt someone coming up behind her. Looking over shoulder, she saw Sasuke striding towards her and the two young men with a look of... anger?

"Who are you?" he said bluntly, stopping beside Sakura, who looked rather taken aback.

Sakura cut in before they could answer "This is Kenji," she said, smiling at the man, a smile which earned the man a glare from Sasuke. "And this is Yuji," she added, pointing to the other man.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely, noticing smugly that the men looked slightly scared. Being an S-class 'criminal' had its perks after all.

"We err... Tsunade sent us," said Yuji, trying to avoid Sasuke's ice cold glare. "She wants to see you and Sakura-chan in her office immediately. Do you want us to take you there Sak-"

"No, I'll take her," stated Sasuke coldly, slamming the door in there startled faces. He eyed the door furiously, as if to say to the men outside "If you dare knock on that door again, I_** WILL**_ kill you."

"You didn't have to be so rude to them, you know," Sakura said crossly, looking up at him.

Ignoring her last comment, he said "You had better go and get changed, if we've got to go to Tsunade," He looked her up and down slowly. She was still in her rather small pyjamas.

Glaring at him, she stormed off up the stairs.

Feeling grumpy, Sasuke turned around to see Neji, Naruto and Hinata all standing in a row, watching him with that same look of disbelief on each of their faces.

"What?!" he snapped.

They didn't say anything, but just filed back into the kitchen slowly, each one of them rolling their eyes.

Fifteen minutes later Sakura came back downstairs, dressed in a denim mini skirt and light green halter neck. Her long pink hair flowed down her back. She had grown it back to the same length she had had it as a child. Sasuke, who had been waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, found the only thing that was keeping his jaw form dropping to the floor was his Uchiha pride. He didn't understand why she was having such a big effect on him. She had never made him feel like this when they were younger. But then again, this Sakura was a woman now and a very beautiful one at that. She didn't pine after him as she had done. In a way, Sasuke doubted that he would've minded if she had. Hell, he probably would have liked it. Maybe he was...

_No. No way. I am __**not**__ attracted to her! _

_**I wouldn't call it attracted...**_

_Then what the hell would you call it?_

_**Oh, I don't know. Maybe that little four lettered word, l-o-v-**_

_No. Stop right there. There is now way that I am in love, especially __not with Sakura!_

_**Damn you and your pride. You know if there was one thing I could change about you, I'd-**_

"Are you ready?" Sakura said, giving him the ghost of a smile.

_**To kiss you, yes **_

_Shut up!_

_**No**_

Sasuke grunted and made his way over to the door, still arguing with himself. Sighing, Sakura followed after him, feeling slightly exasperated by his lack of speech.

It took them about ten minutes to get to Tsunade's office. Many people had given Sasuke startled looks and had promptly begun to start whispering behind their hands to one another. Sakura, on the other hand, was an entirely different case. Many men were staring at her and a couple wolf whistled at her. Sasuke gave them all venomous glares, even if they did not approach her. He was not going to let other men look at her like that. He was-

_**A jealous prick**_

_I hate you_

_**Then you hate yourself, dumbass**_

_Get lost!_

_**I love annoying you**_

At the door, Sakura knocked lightly, and they waited. A couple of seconds later they heard a very harassed sounding "Come in"

Entering, they saw Tsunade sitting at her desk, looking tired, grumpy and strangely, slightly nervous.

"Sasuke?"

"Yes," he said stiffly, feeling slightly awkward.

"The elders know you're back," she said bluntly, not bothering with preamble "Someone tipped them off last night. They said they saw you outside a bar with Naruto."

"Yeah," he muttered "But I wasn't drinking!"

"I don't care whether you were drinking or not," she said, getting out some papers from her draw.

Sasuke instinctively looked at the cans of sake sitting under her desk. So she still drank that crap...

"I am here with you to discuss the consequences of you leaving the village. You were classed as an S-class criminal and-"

"What do you mean 'were'?"

"Well, as of last night the elders have decided to clear you of all charges. You won't have probation, or any of the usual punishments, but they have a catch."

Sasuke grunted. He didn't think he would get off that lightly. The catch was probably going to be nasty.

"They want you to marry and produce an heir."

Sasuke groaned.

_Great. Really __g__reat_

"But then why am I here?" asked Sakura confusedly "Do you want me to do something at the hospital?"

"Well... not exactly..." Tsunade said, shifting around in her chair, and looking guiltily at Sakura.

Sasuke's eyes widened. She couldn't possibly mean...

_No, God, please no. Anything but this-_

"Well, as to who Sasuke marries, the council have a suggestion... well more of a preference... Ok fine, an order-"

_-__Please, I know I've done a lot of wrong in my life, but I promise you that if she's not about to say what I think she is, then-_

"Sasuke, the council, err..."

-_I'll never do anything wrong ever again in my life. I'll pray every night, I'll help the needy, I'll give away a quarter of my fortune to the poor-_

"Sasuke, they want you to marry..."

_-No, fine I'll give away half of it, hell, I'll give away all of it! Just don't make me marry-_

"Sakura"

**AN: Cliffy! Hey guys, thanks for reading! ****Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaase review! Please with a cherry on top?! (Gives puppy dog eyes) Cookies for everyone who does! **

**Anyway, as you can guess our darling Sakura probably won't be overjoyed with the prospect of marrying our beloved Sasuke (I wouldn't mind) but we'll just have to wait and see, wont we?**

**By the way, don't flame me! If you want to criticize, just be nice!**

**(I'll try and update as soon as I can!) **


	3. Chapter 3

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**Hello! I'm back! Okay this chapter is slightly rushed but I promise a nice big long one next to make up for it! Also the more you review the faster I'll update! I need motivation (in other words I need you to write me loads of reviews so I feel guilty because I'm not updating fast enough and then I'll get off my lazy ass and start writing for you!) Also **_**READ THE DISCLAIMER**_** because there is actually an important notice in there!**

**Disclaimer: Ok think about this logically people... Why the hell would I be sitting here writing fan fiction about Naruto if I owned it!? Also I don't own the character Rika either, she belongs to Ri****-16-Chan, and no I am not stealing, she asked me if I wanted to put her in the story and I thought it was a good idea so I did, so please don't send me hate mail cursing me into oblivion because I am NOT a thief!**

"_They want you to marry and produce an heir."_

_Sasuke groaned._

_Great. Really great._

"_But then why am I here?" asked Sakura confusedly "Do you want me to do something at the hospital?"_

"_Well... not exactly..." Tsunade said, shifting around in her chair, and looking guiltily at Sakura._

_Sasuke's eyes widened. She couldn't possibly mean..._

_No, God, please no. Anything but this-_

"_Well, as to who Sasuke marries, the council have a suggestion... well more of a preference... Ok fine, an order-"_

_-Please, I know I've done a lot of wrong in my life, but I promise you that if she's not about to say what I think she is, then-_

"_Sasuke, the council, err..."_

_-I'll never do anything wrong ever again in my life. I'll pray every night, I'll help the needy, I'll give away a quarter of my fortune to the poor-_

"_Sasuke, they want you to marry..."_

_-No, fine I'll give away half of it, hell, I'll give away all of it! Just don't make me marry-_

"_Sakura" _

The silence was deadly. Sasuke and Sakura stared at Tsunade blankly, comprehending what she had just said. Suddenly, at the same time, they both yelled,

"What!?"

Nothing short of uproar followed.

"They want me to-?!"

"No! I refuse, you can't make-"

"Can't I just go to prison?!"

"Yeah, can't he just-"

"SILENCE!!"

Sakura and Sasuke fell silent, gawking at Tsunade, with looks of fury and horror on their faces.

"Sasuke, the only other option is execution and I'm sure you don't want that!" she said raising up her hands in exasperation.

"It looks pretty tempting," muttered Sasuke.

"Well, it's not an option now. I'm not going to let you and neither will the elders. They don't want the Uchiha clan to die with you."

"You mean, you want me to- to- to- with him?!" Sakura spluttered, pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"Unfortunately, yes, Sakura, you will have to have sex with Sasuke." she stated bluntly.

Sasuke choked and turned bright red. He had forgotten exactly what reproducing meant. 

"Why me? Why!?" whined Sakura.

"Because, Sakura, the council have ruled out all fan girls and you're the only one who could-"

"What about Ino?"

"Sakura, don't be an idiot, you know she's in a relationship with Shikamaru."

"Hinata?"

"She wouldn't survive."

"Tenten?"

"Neji would kill me. Look, Sakura you're the only one who could handle him-"

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Sasuke. Sakura, you're the only one who will shout back at him when he's being an arrogant git-"

"I am not-" Sasuke began indignantly.

"-and the only one who can calm him down when his curse seal takes over."

"But I don't want to marry him!" she cried, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Believe me, Sakura, I'm not exactly thrilled," Sasuke said dryly.

"You knocked me out and left me on a stone bench in the middle of the night, after I told you I loved you. For once Uchiha, perhaps you could think about how I feel," she spat out furiously, standing up and facing him. He stood up too, and looked down at her, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Don't assume that this marriage is going to be easy, because I can tell you now that for every moment of hell you put me through, you will pay!"

With that she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

"Sasuke," sighed Tsunade "Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke..."

"What?" snapped Sasuke crossly.

"You're attracted to her, aren't you?"

_**Damn, I guess she knows our dirty little secret then... **_

"Yeah right," he scoffed. 

"Don't lie, Sasuke, I can see right through it."

"It's not my fault she's hot," he muttered sulkily.

"You are an idiot."

"Can you please stop the personal attacks?! I've had enough of that today, thanks."

Shooting her a glare, he strode out of the room with the intention of finding a quiet place to brood.

"RIKA!"

Sakura pounded the door so hard she sent her fist straight through it, leaving a nice, rounded, fist shaped hole in it.

"RIKA! Open the damn do-"

"Bloody hell, Sakura, I'm coming, I'm coming," the door flew open to reveal Sakura's twenty three year old adoptive sister, who looked thoroughly exasperated.

"That's the second time you've done that," she said irritably, pointing to the fist shaped hole in the door "You and your super human strength- hey, are you ok?"

"Well, I've just found out that I have to marry the bastard Uchiha, the very one that abandoned me six years ago, who turned up last night!"

Shock was etched all over Rika's pretty face, and her light blue eyes widened as she began to comprehend what Sakura had just said. She was quite tall, the contrary of Sakura, and had long red hair which flowed all the way down her back.

Her parents had adopted Rika around the same time that they had had Sakura, and they had treated her like their own daughter. Although she wasn't really Sakura's sister, they were very close. Another thing that they shared in common was their mutual dislike of all Uchihas. Before the massacre, Rika and Itachi had been very close and although she would never tell Sakura the whole truth of what had happened between the two, Sakura suspected there had been some romance involved. However, when she had found out what he had done she vowed never to mention his name again, and when she had found out that Sakura liked Sasuke, she had warned her that he would break her heart. Unfortunately she was right and after Sakura had given up on trying to bring Sasuke back, they both promised each other that they would forget about the Uchihas. So this was why she was now making death threats to both Sasuke and Tsunade.

"How dare they?! They day that I see you marry an Uchiha will be the day that- that-" It was evident that she could not think of an event horrible enough to describe it.

"Oh and it gets better," she said, laughing hollowly "Tsunade says that we have to produce an heir."

Rika's mouth opened and closed, seemingly so disgusted that she was unable to think of anything to say anything to this.

"It's awful isn't it," said Sakura icily.

"Isn't there a loophole or something?" asked Rika hopefully "can't you just divorce him or something afterwards?"

Sakura let out another mirthless laugh. 

"I think the elders will probably have seen to it that we can't."

Rika ran her hand through her hair, looking around as if hoping some magic solution would swoop down upon her.

"I wanted to marry for love," said Sakura quietly "I wanted to have a proper family, one where I loved everyone in it. He'll never love me and I'll never love him, ever again. The only reason they want me to marry him is because I'm the only one who can handle him..." she trailed off, staring into space.

"Give him hell," said Rika threateningly "Make him pay for everything. And I can be the sister in-law from hell. It's not as though I need to pretend that I hate him.."

"Rika?" said Sakura tentatively, a sudden though having just struck her, "Rika, I just remembered... Itachi, he... Sasuke killed him..." she trailed off looking apologetic, looking up at Rika. She could have sworn she had seen a flicker of sorrow in her eyes before she said harshly,

"He deserved it. He killed his family and abandoned m- Kohona," Sakura didn't miss her little slip up. 

"Rika?" she asked gently.

"Forget about it," she snapped "We have to worry about you marrying the ice cube, not about my pointless problems. You'd better come in, once the fan girls find out they'll be after your blood."

"Just another one of the many benefits from this wonderful arrangement," she muttered sarcastically, before stepping over the threshold. 

"My life is over..."

Naruto, Neji and Shikamaru all exchanged glances. He was right, his life was over. Sakura would probably murder him.

They were all sat in the kitchen, Sasuke slumped in chair, with the other boys around him. They had called in Shikamaru for extra protection, in case Sakura came looking for Sasuke with violent intentions. Normally he would have been able to take her easily in a fight, but he seemed to have lost the will to do anything, and Sakura was no weakling.

"I'm doomed! She'll castrate me!"

All they boys winced. They wouldn't put it past her.

"Sasuke, don't you think you're being a just a bit dramatic?" asked Neji.

"Tell me, Neji, do you have to marry Sakura?" he asked, furiously.

"I wouldn't mind," Neji said slyly "At least the sex would be good. Sasuke, even you, the human ice cube, can't deny that she is seriously -"

"Neji," said Naruto warningly, cracking his knuckles menacingly. He had taken to becoming very protective of Sakura.

"By the way Neji, when are you going to ask Tenten out?" said Shikamaru, smirking at him "What's the matter, too chicken? And by the way Sasuke, he's right, have you seen her in a bikini, because-"

"Argh! Stop it! Did you two nick Kakashi's book or something!?" said Sasuke "Stop being perverted about my fiancé!"

"So she's yours now, eh Sasuke? Someone's getting overprotective," Neji taunted.

"Teme, do you like her?" asked Naruto seriously "Because if you hurt her again-"

"I'm not going to," muttered Sasuke. 

"But do you like her?"

"I don't know!"

"Wait, you're not denying it?"

"Yes-no- stop it! You're confusing me!"

"Sasuke, confused? Over a girl? It's the apocalypse!"

"Sasuke are you feeling ill?"

"Let me check you're temperature-"

"SHUT IT!!"

They stood there, identical smirks plastered across each of their faces, while Sasuke glared at them.

"I'm going out to train," he muttered, storming out of the room.

They three boys stood there a second before Neji suggested "Shall we follow him?"

"Shall we go and train? It'll make you feel better..."

Once the whole thing had been explained properly to Rika, she had invited Tenten, Ino and Hinata over to hear the news. They naturally been horrified and Ino had started viciously verbally abusing the elders, Tsunade and of course Sasuke (even though it wasn't really his fault), while the others had just stood by nodding in grim agreement.

With Sakura looking as though she ready to punch something, it seemed Hinata's meek suggestion was the probably the most sensible course of action and around five minutes later they were all marching off towards the training grounds.

However they soon found out upon arriving that they were not the only ones who thought that throwing a lot of kunais would be a good stress-reliever. In fact Sasuke was throwing one right now. At Shikamaru. And he was about to throw another one at Neji when he saw-

The girls stared at the four men in front of them, who had all frozen, strings of swearwords and plans to get out of there as soon as possible now running through their minds.

"Uchiha!" everyone turned to look at a fuming Sakura, who was now striding towards Sasuke, who took a hasty step back. The other girls hurried after her, unsure of what to do.

"Fight me!"

"Wh-what?" Sasuke asked, completely startled.

"I said, fight me!"

Sasuke looked around helplessly at everyone else. They just grimaced, edging away discreetly. He knew he was stronger than her but he really didn't want to hurt her. 

"Sakura..."

"You heard me Uchiha."

Hinata, who was now standing beside Naruto, clutched his muscular arm and let out a little squeak. In spite of himself, a smug look appeared on Naruto's face. He loved it when Sasuke and Sakura fought. There were so many benefits. Deciding to press his advantage, he gently removed his arm from her vice-like grip and wrapped it around her shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Neji and Shikamaru giving him discreet thumbs ups.

The group were now standing a good ten metres away from Sasuke and Sakura, wary of being caught in the cross-fire. Sakura was now in fighting stance and was drawing out a kunai. Sasuke however just stood there, seemingly unwilling to fight. 

"Sakura, this is pointless..."

"What's the matter, afraid of your little fiancé?" she taunted.

His fiancé. Sakura, his fiancé. His Sakura...

Suddenly the onlookers saw a flurry of pink and then heard the ominous sound of a slashing kunai.

**AN: hello again! In case you're wondering about Rika **_**READ THE DISCLAIMER, **_**because it's all in there and I can't be bothered to explain it all again. Anyway, sorry this chapter was not one of my best. It was slightly rushed but I promise the next chapter will be better! And remember, the more reviews I get the faster I'll update! Also in case you are wondering about the HinataXNaruto bit in there, I'm going to put them in a relationship pretty soon but I think you probably guessed that anyway... **

**Anyways, back to the chapter, how is this little pre-marriage fight going to turn out? What does Sasuke think about fighting Sakura? And Naruto, how much further is he going to 'press his advantage'? Only I know because I have the notebook! Muahahaha! But I'll type faster if you review more... and you'll find out quicker...**

**Also I am thinking of starting an ItachiXSakura story soon. What do you think? Should I write one? I have a vague idea in my head about the storyline, but I need your opinion on whether I should **

**write one... By the way if you hate the pairing don't send me evil reviews, I'm looking for your honest opinion!**

**Thank you for reading and please review!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm back again!! Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! **

**Disclaimer: Basically, I wish I did, but I don't own Naruto –Sobs-**

"_Sakura, this is pointless..."_

"_What's the matter, afraid of your little fiancé?" she taunted._

_His fiancé. Sakura, his fiancé. His Sakura..._

_Suddenly the onlookers saw a flurry of pink and then heard the ominous sound of a slashing kunai._

Sakura brought the kunai down, aiming to slash his arm but a strong hand caught her wrist. She had expected that. Twisting around, she aimed a kick at his legs which he was forced to let go of her in order to avoid. She threw a couple more kicks at him but to her annoyance he avoided them.

It infuriated her to see him not fighting back. All he would do was avoid her attempts to him. Was she still so weak that it wasn't worth the effort to him?

To vent out her newly formed fury at him she threw a well aimed kunai at him, which, had it not been caught by Sasuke, would have plunged directly into his stomach.

They went on like this for about ten minutes, Sakura throwing punches, kicks and the occasional kunai at Sasuke, and him dodging everything she threw at him while he blatantly refused to fight her.

"What is wrong with you?" she hissed at him, "Why aren't you fighting?!"

Dodging yet another kick, he said quietly "I don't want to hurt you."

Sakura let out a hollow laugh and said "It's too late for that."

Suddenly he disappeared, leaving Sakura alone in the middle of the training ground. Looking around her, she cursed inwardly. Where had he gone?

She looked around her, unsure of what had happened. Suddenly she felt a firm hand grip her around the waist and pull her backwards into something which felt like a brick wall. Before she could do anything other than give a yell of surprise, the wall locked an arm around her neck, so she couldn't escape.

_Damn it!_

"I win," whispered a voice next to her ear, almost making her shiver.

_Sasuke! NO! I refuse to let him win!_

A sudden idea forming in her head, a slight smirk began to tug at the corners of her mouth. It was time to see if the Uchihas really had hormones.

Turning her head slightly so her she could see him, she whispered in a seductive voice "Sasuke-_**kun**_"

With an inward smirk of satisfaction, she saw his eyes widen slight. She also noticed how his hold on her loosened slightly. Turning around slowly, she moved her face closer to his so that their lips were almost touching.

"You want to play?" she whispered in that same seductive tone.

She ran a hand down his muscular chest slowly, teasing him. She then brought the hand up and traced his jaw line.

"What the hell is she doing...?" said Naruto, looking completely bewildered.

The other onlookers all asked themselves that same question as they watched as Sakura continued to tease Sasuke, who looked nothing short of besotted.

"I have no idea, but whatever it is, he looks ready to have sex with her here and now," muttered Neji, seeing the look on Sasuke's face. "It looks like he does have hormones after all..."

Sasuke now felt completely fuzzy. His mind had gone blank and he found himself unable to move. God, he wanted to snog her senseless and then-

_**Someone's getting horny. I told you you wanted her!**_

_Yeah... whatever..._

_**Bloody hell, you're so caught up in her you can't even think of a good retort? I knew this girl would be good for us!**_

He desperately tried to resist the urge to kiss her, but it was really not helping that her lips were only about a centimetre away from his, almost inviting him. He didn't really care about much else anymore. All that mattered to him was that Sakura continued doing- well, whatever she was doing to him.

Sakura now returned her hand to his chest and ran it down slowly. She smirked when she heard the tiniest of groans escape his lips. She was bringing him to his knees and she loved every minute of it. It was almost too easy. He wanted her so bad now. And he was going to pay for it.

Bringing her lips a little closer to his she whispered "I win" before giving him a push on his shoulders and making him drop to his knees in front of her. Smirking at him, she began to walk away towards the exit.

The rest of the group simply looked between the two in complete surprise, first looking at the rather dazed Sasuke and then to the smirking Sakura. Had Sasuke Uchiha just been brought to his knees by a girl? No, surely their eyes were deceiving them, because Sasuke Uchiha had never been brought to his knees by anything which he hadn't killed later. And the look in his eyes made it plain that that of the list of things that he wanted to do to Sakura, killing her was definitely not on them.

"Bloody hell," was the only thing Neji could say as he gaped at Sasuke. "Did she just...?"

"I think she did," muttered Naruto. He looked down at Hinata to see that she was trying to stifle her giggles. Looking around he saw that Rika, Ino and Tenten were all laughing as well. Feeling utterly bewildered, he looked around at Neji, who looked just as confused as he was, and Shikamaru, who was wearing a look of grim understanding.

"That-was-brilliant!" said Ino, from between her laughs.

"What-" began Naruto weakly.

"We'd better go," said Hinata "See you later guys, Naruto..."

The girls all sprinted off after Sakura, still evidently trying to hide their laughter. Neji and Naruto stared after their retreating forms, with the feeling that they were missing something. Shikamaru just sighed and said "We had better get him, I don't think he's going to move otherwise..."

Both of the boys looked in the direction that Shikamaru was pointing in and, sure enough, there was Sasuke, still in exactly the same position that Sakura had left him in. Walking over to him Naruto hauled him up onto his feet. His eyes were still unfocused and his mouth was slightly open.

"Sasuke?" said Neji, waving a hand in front of his face "Earth to Sasuke?"

After he got no reaction, he looked questioningly at Shikamaru "What the hell did she do to him?" he asked, pointing at the dazed Sasuke.

"There's more than one way to win a fight," muttered Shikamaru, poking Sasuke experimentally on the forehead to see if he would wake up.

"Oh," said Neji, a look of comprehension passing over his face.

Naruto, still supporting Sasuke, furrowed his brows at the pair and said confusedly "I don't get it..."

Neji and Shikamaru just rolled their eyes in unison at him and went back to trying to get Sasuke out of his dream like state.

"I can't believe she has this much of an effect on him," said Neji, a sudden grin passing over his features. "I didn't think any women would ever be able to make him like this. To be honest, I thought he was either gay or he was born without any hormones..."

"Obviously not," replied Shikamaru, looking exasperated. "How the hell are we going to get him out of this state?"

"Wait, I have an idea!" exclaimed Naruto. The other two just looked at him, unsure of whether to let him go through with his 'idea'. If they did, Sasuke would probably beat him up, but then again Sasuke would probably beat him up anyway... so it didn't really matter anyway...

"What are you going to do...?" asked Neji uncertainly.

"Just watch," said Naruto with a grin. Turning the dazed Sasuke around to face him, he hit him roughly on the arm and shouted "Oi! Teme! Look, there's Sakura-chan!"

It was like someone had switched a light on in Sasuke's brain. His head snapped up and he looked around and said "Where?!"

Naruto, apparently having a death wish, burst out into loud, raucous laughter as the look of surprise on Sasuke's face, which slowly turned into one of absolute fury. Wheeling around slowly to face Neji and Shikamaru, he saw them with identical smirks on both of their faces.

"What?" he seethed.

"I didn't think you had it in you, Sasuke," said Neji, now looking close to laughter.

"It was not funny!" said Sasuke, looking close to boiling point.

"Oh, but it was," said Neji, basking in the fact that Sasuke's pride had just been wounded. Badly.

"I think we have an answer to your earlier question, Naruto," added Shikamaru.

"Huh, what question?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Naruto really did suite the nickname 'dobe' sometimes. No, most of the time.

"You know, the 'does Sasuke like Sakura' question," he said.

"Oh right..." he said, a look of dawning comprehension on his face, followed by a sudden grin before he added "_**That**_ one."

"Look," snarled Sasuke "I-DO-NOT-LIKE-HER!"

"Let it go, Sasuke, let it go," said Shikamaru.

"No, I won't because I don't-"

"Sasuke, you're marrying her for God's sake! It's a good thing to like the person you're getting married to!" said Neji, with the tone of voice he usually put on when he was explaining something very simple to Naruto.

Sasuke ran his hand though his hair and swore loudly, before saying "I lost."

"You know if he was like that while she was teasing him, imagine what he'll be like when he's 'reviving his clan' with her," muttered Shikamaru, just loud enough so that Sasuke could hear him.

"He might faint," teased Neji.

Sasuke just glared at them both, refusing to dignify their teasing of him with a comeback.

"Aw, Sasuke's in love!" said Naruto, in a fake high pitched voice.

"NO.I.AM.NOT." said Sasuke from between clenched teeth "and anyway, what would you have done?"

"Snogged her then and there," said Neji casually, and when Sasuke raised his eyebrows at him, he added "What? I don't like your precious fiancé or anything, don't worry. It's just that I'm a normal hormonal guy and she happens to be incredibly sexy and if I was the one who she was practically offering herself to, I would not have held back. Besides, it was obvious you wanted her. The look on your face... priceless..."

"She just did it to win the fight!" cursed Sasuke "And I let her do it!"

Neji just gave an exasperated sigh and rubbed his forehead. "Sasuke, you're a guy, of course you let her do it..."

Feeling frustrated, Sasuke ran a hand through his hair. What the hell was wrong with him?

_**For God's sake! YOU MORON! It's so bloody obvious! Face it like a man!**_

_Ok, so maybe I do like her... a little bit... _

_**Four words-I.TOLD.YOU.SO.**_

"Let's go back to the house," muttered Sasuke, turning around and beginning to walk towards the exit. The other three stood there for a second, staring at his retreating form with exasperation, before following him.

"-And then when you pushed him to his knees-"

"-The look on his face-"

The five girls were currently sitting in a small restaurant, having lunch, and talking, or rather laughing, over Sakura and Sasuke's 'fight'.

"You know, I didn't know what you were doing at first, I thought you had gone mad or something," said Tenten, from between her giggles.

Sakura just smirked. And this was only the first day of their engagement...

"Oh, guys, I just remembered something," Sakura said "I'm going to need bridesmaids, so if you want..." she trailed off, waiting for their reaction which would come in 1, 2, 3...

"US?!" came the squeal, from Ino, Tenten and Hinata "Really!?"

When Sakura nodded they all gave another squeal and began to jump up and down in their seats in excitement. Sakura looked apprehensively over at Rika and sure enough, the look on her face was nothing sure of mortified.

"You mean... you want me to wear... a dress?" she said.

"Rika, please, it won't be pink, I promise!" pleaded Sakura. Rika was a tomboy through and through, and the only things she despised more in the world than Uchihas was pink and dresses. Sakura painstakingly remembered the last time Rika had worn a dress. It was when she had been eight and even then it took several hours of pleading, bribing and begging on their mother's behalf to get her 

to wear it. Not to mention after that she had gone through each and every one of the photos and personally burned them all afterwards.

"Rika, you're my sister! You have to be my bridesmaid," continued Sakura "Come on, I won't put bows or frills or anything like that on the dresses!"

"Yeah Rika, please!" begged the other girls.

"Do I have to?" she muttered, glaring at the table.

"Yes," the all said in unison.

"Oh alright... but remember- no pink!" she said grumpily. "I think they should be black."

"Black?" asked Sakura incredulously.

"You're marrying Uchiha Sasuke, I don't think it'll be a happy occasion, probably more like a funeral..."

"Point taken," muttered Sakura "But NOT black, Rika. The day will be gloomy enough."

"Alright," she agreed grudgingly.

"So what colour should the dresses be then?" asked Hinata.

"Well, we can't have any colour that will clash with Rika's hair, so pink is out of the question and we can't really have black on a wedding day, but apart from that, I have absolutely no idea."

"Do you know when you are going to be married?" questioned Ino.

"I'm not sure," said Sakura dryly "I want to make this engagement as long as possible, but something tells me that the elders are not going to agree."

"On the bright side," said Ino "He's got loads of money!"

"INO!" they all yelled incredulously.

"Relax, I'm just kidding. I wouldn't marry Sasuke for all the money in the world, especially when I have my Shika," she said, laughing at the looks on their faces "Don't worry, I'm not that superficial."

"Money doesn't buy happiness," mused Sakura "well, its definitely not going to buy me mine anyway..."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," said Hinata soothingly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I just wanted to marry for love," she murmured "I mean I always dreamed of my wedding as a happy occasion, and mum and dad would be there and..." she trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes. Her mother had died of cancer a few of years ago and their father had followed her a couple of months later. Wiping them away furiously, she bit her lip. She hadn't cried for about two years now, and she wasn't about to break that record.

"We'll be there for you," said Ino "Don't worry."

"Yeah, we'll beat up Sasuke if he's an asshole," agreed Rika.

The other girls murmured their agreement while Sakura just gave them all a watery smile.

"Sakura," asked Tenten tentatively "who are you going to ask to give you away?"

"I think I'll ask Kakashi," she said, her voice wavering slightly "I couldn't really see anyone else doing it..."

"I see what you mean," said Ino, nodding fervently.

"Speaking of Kakashi," began Tenten slyly "What were you doing with him at that restaurant yesterday, Rika?"

Rika turned slightly pink and averted her eyes from the table.

"Rika?! Rika, are you going out with Kakashi?" asked Sakura, her eyes alight with excitement.

"Maybe..."

"Oh my God! How long have you been going out for!?" squealed Ino, positively jumping up and down in her seat.

"A while..."

"And you didn't tell me?!" asked Sakura incredulously.

"Well, we sort of kept it a secret... but obviously it's not now..."

"Why?!"

"We didn't really people making a big fuss out of it..."

"I can't believe you are going out with Kakashi!"

"Have you had sex with him?"

"INO!!"

"What?"

"That's personal!"

"Well, I've had sex with Shik-"

"Too much information, thanks"

Deciding to save Ino from being murdered by Rika, Sakura interrupted their conversation

"Oh, you know Tsunade wants Sasuke and me to produce an heir."

The girls all froze, except Rika, who already knew this horrifying piece of information.

"I think that's the whole reason behind our marriage," continued Sakura "They don't want the Uchiha clan to die out. It's too powerful."

"But that means- that means-" spluttered Ino.

"Yeah, I know," sighed Sakura.

"That'll be awkward," muttered Tenten.

"Yeah I know. I'm cringing just thinking about it," said Sakura, shuddering slightly. "I mean he does have a nice body though..."

"How do you know that?!" spluttered Rika, nearly choking on her drink.

"Well, I got up really early this morning and you know he stayed over...?" said Sakura, he cheeks reddening "Well I sort of walked into him and I nearly fell over and then he caught me and he was umm... shirtless... at first I thought I'd walked into the wall by accident..."

"You know," said Ino "I think you two both like each other, you're just both too proud to admit it."

"No I don't!" said Sakura, a little too quickly "I wouldn't like an arrogant jerk like that-"

"Who happens to be completely hot," cut in Ino "And you did, Sakura. Remember, you really did love him when we were younger?"

"I was thirteen," scoffed Sakura, "I was an idiot."

"If you say so," said Ino "You always were stubborn..."

"I don't like him," grumbled Sakura, more to herself than anyone else "I don't..."

**AN: Ha-ha Sasuke humiliation!! It was so much fun to write! Don't get me wrong I still love him, but I just think someone needs to put the git in his place and give him a taste of his own medicine! And now Sakura's getting confused! Oh I love writing this...!!**

_**Please read the next bit (You know you want to)**_

_**OK, what dress colour do you want the bridesmaids to wear? Just review and vote- but remember not black and pink, and also try not to pick colours that will clash wish Rika's hair because it's red. I'll count up the votes and let you know which colour wins!**_

**Oh and you might be a little bit confused about the whole Itachi/Rika/Kakashi situation. I will clear everything up for you: **

**Rika USED to like Itachi, but she felt really betrayed when he left (I mean wouldn't you, if you're boyfriend did that to you?) but **_**she has moved on.**_

**Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!**

**xoxoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I'm back! There is going to be a time skip, because if I didn't then I would be writing chapters and chapters of long boring complications, but it's much easier just to explain it to you in a paragraph! Anyway, please review! Also, for reference, my inspiration for Sasuke's house was **Chatsworth manor, and if any of you have seen the film Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera Knightly- I don't think I spelt that right) you will recognise it as Mr Darcy's big house. In a way it sort of fits doesn't it? Mr Darcy, a man of few words, who has no apparent interest in the opposite sex until Elizabeth comes along and- what do you know? That sounds a lot like Sasuke! Coincidence? I don't think so! Yeah, anyway, I'm going to post this at the end as well because for some reason, more people tend to read the end AN, so if you've bothered to read this then, yeah... Also, I know that Chatsworth is an English house and I'm putting an old English house in Japan, but oh well! It's fan fiction! You can do what you want!

_**Disclaimer: muahahahahaha! I own Naruto! (Menacing men with scary looking weapons approach threateningly) No-no, I didn't mean- don't kill me! (Cringes as they advance pointing more scary pointy things at me) Ok! Ok! I don't own Naruto, just don't point that thing at me!**_

The next few weeks for Sakura and Sasuke were absolute hell. Tsunade had said that the elders had insisted that they live together and after a long furious argument between her, Sakura and Sasuke, it had been decided that they would live in Sasuke's house. It was the larger of the two, and although Sakura's house was anything but small, the Uchiha compound was massive. The house had about twelve bedrooms, nearly the same amount of bathrooms and dozens of other rooms which Sakura doubted, although it was Sasuke's house, he had probably never even set foot into in his life, it was that big. And attached to it was about ten kilometres square of grounds, including a pool, summer house and its own personal training ground.

Sakura had desperately wanted to live in her own house, hating the idea of relying on Sasuke in any way. But in the end, she lost the fight and to her dismay Tsunade had given her a week to move in.

* * *

"You know, you could help me!?"

Sakura was in the process of carrying a particularly heavy box of her things through the Uchiha mansion's front doors, while Sasuke sat on one of the steps of the large marble staircase in the centre of the hallway, and watched her lazily.

"Why do you need so much stuff anyway?" he asked, observing her with disinterest. Glaring at him, Sakura walked slowly up to Sasuke, and dropped the box on his feet.

"Shit!!" he swore, nursing one of his feet.

"Oops," said Sakura sarcastically, before pulling him up by the arm and forcefully dragging him out of the door, where a mound of boxes was waiting for them.

"Now help!"

Muttering incoherently, Sasuke walked over and grabbed one of the boxes, and stomped inside with it. He couldn't believe he was letting himself be ordered around by Sakura. Mind you, he had felt the burn of Sakura's super human strength and was in no hurry to feel it again. He really missed the days when she never would have even dreamed of punching him...

It took around half an hour to lug all of Sakura's boxes in. Neither of them had spoken a word to each other in that time, because each was too busy contemplating ways in which to kill the other quietly.

After that, Sasuke discreetly vanished, no doubt to escape more box-carrying duties and to train. The lazy sod.

Finding herself alone in the middle of the large entrance hall with a tonne of boxes surrounding her, she sighed. She would unpack the boxes later, when Sasuke was back. She could torture him a little more then.

Deciding to explore her new home a little bit, Sakura clambered her way over the boxes and began to make her way up the large staircase. It seemed everything about this place was large, and Sakura hadn't seen any of the other rooms yet. In fact, she had never seen the house before today, and although she didn't like to admit it, it was quite breathtaking. The structure was made of cream coloured, beautifully carved stone and was set against a woody slope. There were huge pillars at the front made it look slightly roman, adding to its grandeur. It had been all Sakura could do to stop herself from gasping. The house was truly breathtaking.

As she climbed up the marble staircase, Sakura took note of how her footsteps echoed. She would just have to get used to that. It didn't make it any less weird though.

At the top of the staircase, Sakura found herself in a wide corridor. Well, more of another hall really, with many different doors, completely baffling Sakura. She had a funny feeling that this would be a long tour...

* * *

Sakura was lost. Yes, as much as she hated to admit it, she was well and truly lost. She had been through at least twenty corridors, up and down about five different staircases and been through 

more doors than she could count, and she still had a funny feeling that there was more. So far she had managed to find the library, a couple of the living rooms, most of the bedrooms, the dining room, the weapons room, the kitchen and a lot of other rooms which she wasn't quite sure of the purpose. And, like the exterior, they were all breathtaking.

She had been particularly fascinated by the library however. She had always loved books, but this to her was slightly overwhelming. There were more ancient, precious and rare books and scrolls in here than she doubted she would ever manage to read in her life. She had a feeling that she would be spending plenty of time in there.

As she walked along the corridor, looking desperately around as if hoping a big exit sign would suddenly appear. If she could just find out if what floor she was on, she might be able to navigate her way out, or if all else failed, jump out of a window, but this was proving difficult as there were no windows anywhere near her. She had a funny feeling however that this was not the ground floor however.

Fleetingly she wondered how, a person with so little personality like Sasuke could live in house like this which was full of life. She had been expecting vast open spaces of nothingness, knowing what he was like, but then again, she reminded herself, this house had probably been passed down through many generations, so he probably would have inherited the house as it was.

Sighing, she continued along the latest corridor, which oddly enough, seemed to be lacking doors. As she kept going however, she came to a grand set of double doors. In spite of herself, she was quite curious. Pushing open the door cautiously, she stepped inside.

"Oh my God-" was all she could manage as she stared around at the large ornate room. It was truly magnificent.

She was in a bedroom. It wasn't just any bedroom. It was the master bedroom. She could tell because it was the largest and most amazing of all the ones she had seen so far.

There was a giant four poster bed up against the wall straight ahead of her, with mahogany tables on either side of it. As she made her way over to the bed, she took in the other objects surrounding her. A desk, a dressing table, a mirror, an opened wardrobe with some clothing in it... shit.

Sakura froze, halfway across the room. She was in Sasuke's room. She needed to get out of here fast. She was about to turn around when she saw it. Windows! She had been so caught up in the room before that she hadn't noticed them. Scurrying over to one of them, she looked out and to her annoyance, found out that she was on the third floor. Oh well, she was ANBU, she could handle a jump like that.

Opening the latch, she pushed, but to her irritation, found that it was stuck. Pushing a little harder, she rested her palm on the glass and pushed there as well. Still it wouldn't open.

Sakura felt like that the window was really asking for it. She was sorely tempted to screw the whole thing and send a fist clean through the window so the damn thing would shatter, and then she could get out that way. What did it matter if was a very old, valuable window that Sasuke would probably have to pay a lot of money to replace? He was rich, he could get over it.

_**I don't think that's a good idea...**_

_What is then? You want me to wait for Sasuke in his room? "Oh yeah, hi Sasuke, so how are you? In case you are wondering why I'm in here, I just felt like taking a look, is that ok?" yeah, because that'll go down well._

_**It's a wonderful invention called a door...**_

_Yeah, wonderful, if you can find one!_

Sakura let out a frustrated scream. Now she really needed to punch something...

* * *

Picking his way over the boxes, Sasuke rolled his eyes. Why women needed so much stuff was completely beyond him. He would make sure he wasn't there for the unpacking of these boxes. Suddenly remembering a particularly gruesome fact, her stopped dead halfway over a box. Tsunade had said that he and Sakura had to share a bedroom. And he had forgotten to tell Sakura... CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!! This was NOT going to go down well with her. He cringed subconsciously. She would not be happy when she found out...

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden distant scream. A scream that sounded horribly like-

"Sakura," he muttered, before speeding up the stairs and sprinting towards the source of the noise. What had happened to her? Was she alright? She couldn't possibly be-?

He didn't even want to think about that. She was ANBU, if someone attacked her they would have a fat chance of even landing a hit on her... but maybe...

He sped up, pushing those horrible thoughts out of his head. Damn this house for being so big.

Searching for Sakura's chakra, he felt a wave of relief when he found it. But what was she doing in...?

As he approached his bedroom, he searched around quickly for any sign of blood or damage, but to his immediate relief, found none. Almost dreading what he might find, Sasuke quickly opened the door and hurriedly looked around, before catching sight of Sakura.

"Sakura! Are you- Sakura?"

* * *

Sakura froze in the process of drawing back one chakra infused fist, which had the intent of smashing through the window.

_Oh shit. Caught red-handed._

Slowly turning around and lowering her hand, she opened her mouth to say something, but found that no words came out. She saw Sasuke standing there, a look of utter confusion on his face. Not a sight you see everyday...

"Are you okay? I heard someone scream..." he said slowly.

"Err... well...you see..."

"And why are you in my room? And why were you going to punch my window?" he continued in that same slow, deep voice.

"I got lost and I got a little bit frustrated..."

"So you screamed...?"

"And I couldn't find any other way out, and the window wouldn't open..."

There was an awkward silence between the two of them, while Sasuke digested the information and Sakura stared at her feet, her cheeks slightly pink. After a few minutes of this, Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

"Look, I'm really sorry, I didn't know this was your room, I'm sorry that I nearly punched you're window, I wasn't thinking, I-"

"Sakura," he said, an amused smirk appearing on his face "Did you get lost?"

"Yes-no- fine, ok, I did," she said, looking slightly flustered.

His smirk widened, as he leant against the doorframe casually.

"Look, your house is-" she began, but then a sudden glare formed on her face. "Uchiha, are you teasing me?" she said sternly.

"Maybe..." he said, the tone of amusement in his voice evident.

"Really?" she said, folding her arms and pouting slightly.

"Oh, err... Sakura?" he said, mentally preparing himself for the explosion that would follow "Tsunade said that she wants us to sleep in the same room..."

1,2,3-BOOM!

* * *

About ten minutes later, Sasuke was leaning against the bed whilst Sakura paced up and down the room, muttering to herself.

"Sakura, you're acting like we're preparing for an S-class mission or something..." said Sasuke disinterestedly.

"No, I am not!" she snapped crossly.

"You never really answered my question earlier," He continued. She just ignored him and continued pacing.

"What _were _you doing in here?"

She still ignored him.

"Were you getting ideas...?" he said huskily, shooting her a cheeky smirk.

Suddenly there was a flash of pink and then Sasuke found himself being hit repeatedly over the head with a book.

"PERVERT!"

"ARGH! SAKURA!"

Sasuke made a wild grab for the book, but instead ended up knocking Sakura by accident, so that she stumbled to the side, before tripping over.

Desperately trying to stay upright, Sakura grabbed onto the nearest object, which at the time was Sasuke's shirt, causing them to both go toppling to ground.

The next thing they knew, Sasuke was lying on top of Sakura, their legs entangled together and their lips inches apart. Both their eyes widened with shock as they realized their current, compromising position.

Placing his arms either side of Sakura's head, Sasuke pushed his top half off of Sakura, but did not get up entirely.

"Is this what you had in mind Sakura?" asked Sasuke. "Because the floor isn't a very appropriate place, you know..."

Letting out a huff, she smacked him hard in the chest. He was about to let out a chuckle, when something made him freeze. He had seen something. A flicker of emotion in her eyes. Now she had him locked in a gaze, and he found he could not look away. There was something...

Neither of them really knew how it happened. They didn't really care. All that mattered was the fact that Sasuke now had his lips on Sakura's and his arms around her waist. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip asking for entrance, as he felt her arms snake around his neck. She willingly complied and soon her hands were going to his shirt and pulling it over his head. Hearing her give a low moan, he returned the favour and soon Sakura was left in her bra, whilst Sasuke was shirtless.

He ran a hand up her waist and was just in the process of unclasping her bra, when Sakura broke the kiss.

"Sasuke," she whispered breathlessly "We have to stop. That was a mista-"

He silenced her with another long passionate kiss. He smirked against her lips when he heard her moan again.

She broke away again.

"Sasuke..." she whispered. "We can't do this..."

"Why not? You're my fiancé," he said.

"But we don't like each other..." This time she didn't sound so sure of herself.

"But what was that?" he asked.

"I- I don't know," she bit her lip.

"You hate me don't you?" he asked quietly, not looking her in the eye.

"No! No, I-"

"You don't have to lie," he said coldly, pushing himself up off Sakura and retrieving his shirt. "It's ok."

Pulling his shirt back on, he walked out of the room, that same cold, hardened expression that he wore when he was younger appearing on his face.

Sakura sat up, completely shocked. What had happened? Why had it happened? What was going on with her?

She hugged her knees close to her chest, as if attempting to block out the drowning sorrow that she could feel growing within her.

She would not cry. She could not cry. She buried her face in her knees in an attempt to numb the pain.

Crying was a weakness... He had said it was...

**AN: Ooooooh! You all knew it was coming!! I'm sorry for making it depressing though! But it had to be done. The bridesmaid dress polls are listed as such so far, but I'm going to hold the poll for longer, however you can only vote for these colours! (The numbers are the number of votes)**

_**Cream-1**_

_**Navy blue-2**_

_**Green-1**_

_**Light orange-1**_

_**White-1**_

_**Peach-1**_

_**Red-1**_

**Also, for reference, my inspiration for Sasuke's house was Chatsworth manor, and if any of you have seen the film Pride and Prejudice (the one with Kiera Knightly- I don't think I spelt that right) you will recognise it as Mr Darcy's big house. In a way it sort of fits doesn't it? Mr Darcy, a man of ****few words, who has no apparent interest in the opposite sex until Elizabeth comes along and- what do you know**? **That sounds a lot like Sasuke! Coincidence? I don't think so!**

**Yeah, also won't be able to update for a couple of weeks because I am going on holiday! But if I have time I'll try and think up some ideas!**

**Please, please, please review! I'm on my knees and begging! Come on I updated reaaaally fast for you! Pleeeeeaaaaaaase!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Lots of Love**

**Strawberryz**

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**


	6. AUTHORS NOTE

**Ok people, don't hate me for this, but I'm not going to be able to update for at least another week (unless I get a miracle) because something big has just come up. Hahahaha I'm sooooo happy! My parents are letting me move schools!! –Does happy dance- sorry I absolutely detest my old school. Oh god I'm crying I'm so happy. That's how much I hate my old school. Anyway I had better stop rambling on. Anyway it should be a week but I'll try really really hard to get it done before then because I love all of you guys!! Even flames can't make me depressed! But don't flame me- Ok I'll shut up now.**

**Strawberryz**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!**

**(Sorry for that)**


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